The present invention relates to an arrangement for the safekeeping, storage and examination of coins and medals and has as a purpose to provide a storage possibility that is superior to known traditional arrangements.
It parts from the known arrangement wherein coins in private or other collections have up to now been kept and exhibited in depositories which in most cases have rigid divisions which excludes the individual combination of different objects. In such known arrangements, the coins are often insufficiently protected against outside effects. Moreover, the depositories for safekeeping and even exhibition often do not allow the observer to look at the coin surfaces from all sides. In addition, the known depositories, in view of their construction, cannot be sufficiently adjusted for different coin sizes and, even if they should have some of such desirable features, their manufacturing costs are excessively high as compared to their intended use.
Thus, it has, among other things, been known to store coins in boxes which either have predetermined rigid divisions or individual depositories for coins, wherein such boxes have individual, portable depositories or are parts of larger storage arrangements such as chests, trunks, cabinets, cupboards or the like, showing to the observer only one face of the coins stored therein.
Also some coin depositories such as cassettes have the same drawback of one-sided visibility. Their special features consists in that they have a deformable, multicolored base, into which any desired number of coins may be inserted by pressure of the finger which results in a lasting depression that provides secure stable support to the inserted coin.
To make the coin visible from all sides, it has already been attempted to store them individually in boxes or tins of various forms of a transparent material that have, as an opening, a drawout cover as well as inserts with grooves of a predetermined diameter for securing the coin and several inlays to compensate for different sizes of coins. These depositories as well as, for example, coin boxes of a hard plastic, are intended for certain sets of coins, which are kept in them and arranged in cardboard or hard plastic frames, where the individual diameters required for each purpose have been exactly provided so that they may be used only for that particular set of coins. For this reason, they are sold in commerce as so-called exchange coin cases.
In contradistinction thereto, coin albums with suspendable pockets or pouches allow for a more individual arrangement since their area is subdivided into pockets for individual coins. However, such sheeted pockets are suitable only for the storage of coins in a horizontal position because their sturdiness in relation to the inserted coins is minimal. It has been ascertained that evidently some components of these sheets react with the metal of the coins which fact is evidenced by a change in appearance of the surface of the coins that are kept in such sheeted pouches.
There has also been known a supporting frame of artificial material for individual coins which consists of two spring-activated or tightly interconnectable cover plates, each comprising a recess with a conical inner edge or border surface. This form of recess is provided with the object to make visible the toothed or otherwise decorated border of the coin, which, however, is only possible in coins whose diameters are substantially smaller than the width of the recess in the covering plates. Moreover, because of the viewing angle, it per force will only be possible to obtain a distorted image of the edge or border formation of the coin.
In order to protect the coin surface against touching, clear sheets are inserted on the covering plates which have press-through holes for the pins required to connect the frame halves and basically have the already-mentioned disadvantage that they cause a change in the coin surface.
Another disadvantage of such frames or little boxes for individual coins is that, for rational reasons, they are available or offered in a predetermined outer size, differing solely in the size of the receiving openings for the coins. Such an arrangement thus is unsatisfactory for the reason that in view of the fixed outer size, storage of small coins takes as much space as large-sized coins.
There has already been known an arrangement for the storage of coins in which these are stored individually in special supports which, in turn, are inserted in the recesses of a carrier body. The recesses of such support bodies may have a conical edge, but its angle of inclination is so small that the coins are not held securely in place, which is especially the case when the arrangement, taken out of its horizontal position, is stood up or is turned around for observation of the reverse side of the coins. In this known arrangement, cohesion among the individual coin holders and their carrying plate is achieved by the fact that the adjoining or neighboring surface borders of both parts and provided with protrusions and corresponding counter-recesses which together result in an elastic mounting support.
Finally, the prior art also discloses a support frame for rectangular and square coins which is provided with punch-outs or blankings to correspond to the form of the coins in which the coin is gripped or clampingly held. However, this requires the observance of strict measurements for the traversing openings. The manufacture of such frames, therefore, results in an expensive proposition. These frames, moreover, are wholly inadequate in arrangements where the coins are often changed. For these cases, a development in the aforementioned frame has been described whose essential feature consists in that the press-in openings are provided with supporting and contacting areas in the form of a collar or an encircling supportive border or edge to prevent fall-out or press-through of the coin. In order to protect the inserted coins against touching, it has been proposed to slide the coin-carrying frames into pouches or bags with clear jackets which, again, in view of the natural duration or time of safekeeping, with the passage of time, results in undesired discolorings of the coin surface.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of these known prior art arrangements and to provide a mounting support for coins which meets all practical requirements and is especially suited for coins that heretofore could not be adequately stored, such as those with an irregular surface border or that have arched surfaces.
According to the present invention, this objective is achieved by an encircling, rigid mounting support which allows coins to be observed from all sides without touching, which mounting, at least in the surfaces touching the coins, consists of a substance that does not affect the coin surface being preferably of a plasticizer-free synthetic material such as acrylic glass and having at least one recess for tight coin mountings. Methyl methacrylate polymers such as Plexiglas and Lucite are other examples.
By using the arrangement of the present invention, each individual coin is securely stored against mechanical damage and chemical effects while being visible from all sides in a transparent holder. The arrangement is simple and inexpensive to manufacture even in single units for collectors and amateurs, allowing further for individual compositions to hold coins in different shapes and sizes by which especially irregularly-shaped coins can be securely stored. This arrangement may be assembled into individual elements or also in special combinations and may be observed, transported, and exhibited as decoration as well as exhibited objects in the house or other locations.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the coin mounting has at least one carrying body formed as one single part with at least one recess for coins, the recesses on both sides having locking covering plates and affixation elements for securing of the carrying body and covering plates. This locked coin mounting ensures that the appearance, especially of the coin itself, remains unchanged even when the coin depository is frequently held in the hand, being observable anytime, instead of being locked inside drawers and chests. In the spirit of the present invention, further improvement of the coin mounting has been achieved by providing covering plates of a transparent material with heat-treated or hardened surfaces, preferably of a scratch-resistant acrylic glass, and that the surfaces of the carrier body for the coins have a dull finish which excluses undesirable mirror effects, while the coin itself, especially where collection pieces with bright surfaces are involved, delineates itself from its background and thus its viewing is enhanced.
In order to provide a support for coins differing within a certain range of diameters without the need to provide exact recesses in the coin holder, it has been found to be of advantage, according to one embodiment of the invention, to provide the carrier body with at least one conical recess of preferably 20.degree. inclination and whose cross-section on one front side of the carrier body is smaller than the diameter of the coin.
For coins where also the lower border has to lie free, it is convenient to form the recess serving to hold the coin as a radial bore in the carrier body in the area of both frontal faces.
A convenient embodiment of the arrangement according to this invention for irregularly-formed coins comprises a carrier body having two plates, and the recess for the coins is formed by openings of which, in each case, two are coaxially arranged, widening conically from the frontal faces toward their contacting face, wherein the carrying body consists of at least two plates disposed over each other and, possibly, in addition, a carrying plate with a radial opening sandwiched inbetween.
Depending on the form of the coins to be held, it might be convenient to form the recess for coin support of two conical recesses of different diameters coaxially arranged in the carrier body or to form the carrier body of three plates whose intermediate plate has at least one radial opening to receive the coins and whose outer border is covered by the border of the conical openings with the smaller diameter in the neighboring outer carrier plates.
For coins that should be kept especially free from pressure and tension, the recesses in the carrier body may be provided along their circumferential border with protrusions to hold the coins.
Independent from a special mounting for the coins, the carrier body and covering plates may be kept together by screw elements, while the border of the carrier and covering plates lying over each other are encircled by a frame that preferably consists of two parts wherein, preferably, at least one of the covering plates is arranged in slidable fashion in the frame, and supporting means are provided to prevent unintended opening of the coin mounting.
A further embodiment of the present invention provides for several carrier bodies between covering plates mounted in the frame with at least one recess for receiving the coins, wherein the total surface of the carrier bodies corresponds to the outside dimension of the covering plates, and the coin pallet consisting of the carrier body, covering plates and frame is provided with auxiliary means for standing up or suspending the arrangement.
Other features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described in relationship to specific embodiments, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.